I stumbled across this panel on Pinterest and I know nothing about whatever story had Princess Diana dressed up like a pirate. But it does seem to exemplify the position that sometimes "more clothes" makes the female form seem more desirable, if only because one would have to work to get them off.
More smashing from SMASH COMICS. The story ending with the heroine clobbering some baddies in her regular ID was Wildfire's last blaze of glory, in SMASH #37.
A correspondent on a forum kindly supplied a scan of this BLONDIE Sunday comic, circa 1952, which supports my earlier statement that on rare occasions the mild-mannered housewife could cut loose and demolish Dagwood.
And that includes Lu Lin, enigmatic ally to the dog-faced pony soldier star of DC's "Captain Hunter" feature.
Though Betty Cooper was not infrequently depicted as a tough girl, in this 1949 comic strip she annoys Archie by being a little too feminine and stereotypically helpless. But once he gets a taste of female power from some raucous lady wrestlers, Archie's all for "sugar and spice and everything nice."
As the previous post covered only the content of the 15 issues of McKay Comics, this one covers the five available issues from Harvey Comics, starting circa 1961.
Here's a rare scene of Blondie having clouted Dagwood with a rolling pin, which in the 20th century became a "feminine equalizer" in the midst of male-female quarrels.
On the rare occasions that Dagwood was mauled by a woman using hand-to-hand combat, it was usually a battleaxe like the one above. Incidentally, a 19790s comic book by Charlton recycled this double-mangling and had Dagwood say something like, "at least she doesn't know kung fu."
The most frequently seen battleaxe in BLONDIE's history was Cora Dithers, wife of Dagwood's boss Julius Dithers. One of Chic Young's favorite jokes was to have Dithers hide from his wife in the Bumstead house. Then Cora would intrude and beat up Dithers, and sometimes Dagwood if he got in the way. Perhaps the Dithers were a forecast of what would happen to Dagwood once Blondie got older, heavier, and meaner.
More innocent sadism from Blondie.
And then, some not-so-innocent punishment. More proof that Blondie would become a real termagant, if it were possible for her to age.
Here's a rare moment when Dagwood gets to watch some other poor schmuck being beat up by his wife. Note his obvious admiration of the wife: "it's remarkable how these little women can punch" and "She must have taken boxing lessons when she was young." For Blondie's part, she's just as enthralled with watching the carnage as Dagwood, but she refuses to admit it as Dagwood does.
Occasionally Dagwood was also entertained when his neighbor Herb would apparently get thrashed by his angry wife Tootsie, though of the jokes I've seen, the fights are usually off-panel. This time Blondie doesn't take pleasure in scoping out a fighting couple. Note the rolling pin reference.
I probably had not checked any of the pirate sites for BLONDIE or DAGWOOD comics for a couple of years. But I happened to find a really good scene after purchasing an old 1950s comic book, and I checked around, and mirable dictu, READ ALL COMICS ONLINE has a bunch of them now. So I figured, I better copy off what I can for my site, even though BLONDIE's significance in comics-history has nearly devolved to nothingness. I'd need a separate essay to explain that significance, so later for that.
I will say that I've read almost none of the comic strips since BLONDIE became a domestic-comedy strip in 1933. I know that the pre-1933 Dagwood was a rich doofus devoted to marrying the lower-class Blondie, but he wasn't as much of a Doormat to the Whole World in those strips. So it follows that during the domestic years, author Chic Young made, at some time, the decision that Dagwood would become the perennial goat, either because of others or because of his own maladroit nature. An example of typical Dagwood clumsiness appears below, from the first issue of fifteen issues of a mostly new BLONDIE comic book from 1947.
Blondie's attitude in this one-pager is key. Usually, she assumed the role of a passive observer to Dagwood's self-flagellating antics, which would make her seem to be the opposite of a violent, bullying wife like the one from the earlier BRINGING UP FATHER strip.
She was, however, the voice of authority at home, constantly telling Dagwood to do chores around the house, and to my knowledge Dagwood's only response was to try to run away and hide. Where his wife was concerned, Dagwood had no balls-- which probably made it seem like he deserved to be punished by diverse factors.
Here's the first scene from the 1947 series (issue #7) in which the usually pacific housewife gets a little violent when she thinks Dagwood's been cheating on her.
The above scenes from #8 and #10 are more typical of Blondie's exploits, with her playing the "innocent sadist" who "accidentally" brings about her husband's injuries. I saw both jokes recycled in the comic books. Young's signature suggests that these might be reworked art from the strip.
Eternal battles among the Bat-family, starting with BATMAN ETERNAL #4.
Female athleticism invades the all-boys' territory of "The Cadet," which I'd never have investigated but for the cover.
Blue Beetle fights The Headhunter Queen, who cuts victims' throats with a blade-boomerang.
And Phantom Lady gets three separate throwdowns.
All the jungle-action from the series ALL TOP.
